Family, Life Course, and Society Commons^™

Family–Teacher Relationships And Child Engagement In Early Care And Education, Hillary Lewis, Shannon T. Lipscomb, Bridget E. Hatfield, Roberta B. Weber, Beth L. Green, Lindsey B. Patterson

Center for Improvement of Child and Family Services Publications

Young children’s positive interactions with teachers and peers in early care and education (ECE) settings support the development of their social and academic skills. Identifying malleable factors that contribute to children’s positive engagement in these interactions is important in supporting early development. The current study examines one potential malleable factor that could be bolstered through supports for families and teachers alike: family–teacher relationships. We investigate associations between three specific domains of family–teacher relationships and children’s engagement in ECE, so that findings are specific and relevant to intervention. We examine data from Oregon’s Quality Rating Improvement System Validation Study; a diverse …

Gender Inequality And The Division Of Labor In The Home During Covid-19: A Literature Review, Ella F. Jackson

University Honors Theses

The current Covid-19 pandemic has dramatically impacted families in the United States as working parents face increased demand for domestic labor at home while losing community and institutional support through pandemic closures. By integrating emerging research on gender norms and expectations regarding the division of household labor for working parents, the impact of Covid-19 on working mothers, and the gendered impact of infrastructure and the pandemic response in the United States, I aim to provide a holistic conceptualization and analysis of gender inequality and the division of labor in the home during the Covid-19 pandemic. Through summarizing and analyzing current …

In Their Own Words: Examining The Educational Experiences, Expectations, And Values Of Oregon Low-Income, Single Black Mothers, Reiko Mia Williams

Dissertations and Theses

The long-standing achievement gap between African-American students in grades k-12 and their White counterparts has inspired many educational leaders and policy makers to seek a deeper, more comprehensive understanding of the various factors affecting the well-being of Black students. The conversation has historically focused on deficits and dysfunction while ignoring strengths and resiliencies. The research in this study investigates inaccuracies regarding Black families in order to change the conversation from one of deficits to a strength-based lens. In spite of the inequities that exist for Black families with regards to housing, employment, and health, Black parents remain committed to ensuring …

Connection, Compassion, And Honesty: Using Picture Books To Help Build A Healthier Relationship To Death In A Death-Denying Culture, Kami Sahalie Upshaw Gould

University Honors Theses

This paper explores the ways children are taught about death and dying and how children's picture books can be utilized in difficult conversations of this nature. I go into the historical advent of books specifically for children and research how different ways of explaining death can help or hurt a child. Through this research, I explore how our situationality in a death denying culture has shaped how we explain death to children and what steps can be taken to counter this denial.

Enclosing Water: Privatization, Commodification, And Access, Daniel Jaffee

Sociology Faculty Publications and Presentations

This chapter examines the global political economy of access to drinking water, with particular attention to the implications for environmental and social justice. After reviewing theoretical approaches to the privatization and commodification of drinking water, the chapter examines the institutional and ideological drivers, dynamics, and effects of the enclosure of municipal (tap) water supplies, and the substantial countermovements it has generated, drawing on case studies from both the global South and the North. The chapter briefly reviews the present status of municipal water privatization, and then turns to another major modality of water commodification: bottled water. It explores the dramatic …

Exploring College Student Identity Among Young People With Foster Care Histories And Mental Health Challenges, Rebecca Miller, Jennifer E. Blakeslee, Chanel Ison

School of Social Work Faculty Publications and Presentations

Young adults with foster care histories experience unique barriers to success in postsecondary academic settings, including higher rates of mental health challenges. This study reports the perspectives of college students with foster care histories and self-identified mental health concerns (N = 18) about how these factors relate to their post-secondary academic experiences. Study participants describe managing their mental health amid other academic and life stressors, share their perspectives on campus-based support and help-seeking experiences, and highlight the need for acknowledgement of their foster care identities in conjunction with their developing college student identities. Participants make a case for programming to …

"We Had To Rely On Each Other": Voices Of Latinx Foster Youth With Experiences In Care With Siblings, Isabella B. Ginsberg

University Honors Theses

Relationships between members of sibling groups have been found to impact well-being for children who enter foster care. Being placed in stranger foster care is often challenging and can be traumatic with children reporting confusion, worry, and loss of identity and sense of belonging. While there is some research that explores the experiences of siblings groups in foster care and others separately that examines Latinx children in foster care, there is very little information that looks into the potentially unique experiences of Latinx individuals who were in care with siblings that also accounts for cultural nuance.

This study used a …

Nigerien Fertility Choice In The Face Of Desertification, Samson R. Swan

University Honors Theses

While the majority of the world experienced rapid fertility decline in the second half of the twentieth century, Niger’s fertility rate has remained relatively constant. A high fertility rate in itself is not a problem for the population as long as the resulting population can be sustained by the economic activity of the population. This is not the case for Niger, as extreme droughts in the Sahel have cast doubt on the sustainability of the majority-subsistence economy since the mid-1960s. Although not extremely common, there are some demographers and fertility experts who hold the idea that fertility decision-making is driven …

Toward A Definition Of Adult Sibling Resilience, Cheyenne R. Drover

University Honors Theses

The sibling relationship is considered one of the longest lasting connections an individual will have to another person. Despite this, it is a consistently understudied population in family research and, when studied, siblings are primarily examined during adolescence and often only in the context of conflict and rivalry. Additionally, much of this research does not examine the effects of sibling relationships on the larger family system. This thesis seeks to address this gap in the literature by understanding how the adult sibling literature presents and defines dimensions of sibling relationships. In doing so, it also seeks to examine whether these …

The Adolescent Peer System And Academic Engagement, Carrie Jeanne Furrer, Gwen Catherine Marchand

Center for Improvement of Child and Family Services Publications

Peers are central in shaping adolescents’ development across various domains. This research examined patterns of peer system resources and liabilities, and their association with academic adjustment. A person-centred approach, Latent Profile Analysis, was used to classify students into groups based on characteristics of the peer system: friendship quality, group, and general peer relations. Participants were 443 students in their ninth grade year, 14.7 years old on average, and 57% female. Peer system characteristics formed four profiles. The most common profile had high resources and low liabilities; the three other profiles were mixtures of moderate/high resources and low/moderate liabilities. Students with …

Understanding Support Network Capacity During The Transition From Foster Care: Youth-Identified Barriers, Facilitators, And Enhancement Strategies, Jared Best, Jennifer E. Blakeslee

School of Social Work Faculty Publications and Presentations

This study explores how foster care experiences can impact support network functionality as young people exit the foster care system. This can be conceptualized as a function of both network member capacity to provide adequate support to address young adult needs, and network stability, which reflects cohesion within and across relationships to facilitate consistent support over time. We conducted support network mapping and semi-structured interviews with youth in foster care aged 16–20 (N = 22) and used theoretical thematic analysis to explore support barriers and facilitators in relation to the organizing concepts of support capacity and network stability. Overall, support …

What’S Happening During Home Visits? Exploring The Relationship Of Home Visiting Content And Dosage To Parenting Outcomes, Peggy Nygren, Beth Green, Katie Winters, Anna Rockhill

School of Social Work Faculty Publications and Presentations

Research has documented modest positive impacts of early childhood home visiting programs. However, understanding more about what home visitors do during visits and how much time they spend on specific topics may provide insight into the variability in effectiveness of services. Methods Outcome data were collected via parent survey at program enrollment and 12 months from 123 women in three MIECHV-funded home visiting models. Home visitors completed weekly home visit content and activity logs. Results Families received an average of 28 visits during the study (3.1 visits per month). Of ten content areas, the three most often discussed were early …

Peer Support For Youth And Young Adults Who Experience Serious Mental Health Conditions: State Of The Science, Janet S. Walker, Caitlin Baird, Mary Beth Welch

School of Social Work Faculty Publications and Presentations

Peer support for youth and young adults who experience serious mental health conditions (SMHCs) is rapidly growing in popularity as an addition to the mental health service array in communities around the United States. Research focusing on various aspects of the youth/young adult peer support role has been accruing in recent years; however, many questions remain regarding how the role is defined and supported, and what sort of outcomes can and should be expected once peer support is implemented as a service. This brief reviews the research literature that bears on these topics, describes how current work at Pathways RTC …

Social Network Enhancement Strategies To Address Limited Support Networks In Young Adulthood: State Of The Science, Jennifer E. Blakeslee

School of Social Work Faculty Publications and Presentations

This review focuses on populations where systems involvement is presumed to impact the size, strength, and supportiveness of social networks, including young people who have experienced out-of-home placement in foster care, juvenile justice, or residential treatment.

Social Constructions Of Childhood: From Not-Yet-Adults To People In Their Own Right, Sophia K. Biddle

Anthós

Across the globe it is clear that children are a marginalized group. Children are not allowed to vote or be taken seriously in political circles (Sharpe, 2015), are kept away from public spaces (Valentine 2004), navigate inhospitable working conditions (Gamlin et. al., 2015), and are rapidly losing the time and space to foster their own child culture (Woolley and Griffin, 2014). Adults continue to institutionalize children’s play and restrict children’s access to public space. This serves to reinforce children’s position as second-class citizens. A mounting body of work shows that children are suffering in their physical and social development due …

Examining Generational And Gender Differences In Parent-Young Adult Child Relationships During Co-Residence, Lauren Elizabeth Ferguson

Dissertations and Theses

Young adults of the twenty-first century face a long path to adulthood marked by uncertainty and lack of stability. In response, young adults are heading back to or failing to leave their family homes in higher numbers than generations before (Jacobsen and Mather 2011; Qian 2012). These macro-level trends bring about questions about their impact on family relationships as well as how these relationships have evolved over time. My thesis investigates parent-child relationships during co-residence with a specific focus on generation and gender differences. Through secondary data analysis of the National Survey of Families and Households, I explore how parent-child …

Potentially Traumatic Experiences And Sexual Health Among Orphaned And Separated Adolescents In Five Low- And Middle-Income Countries, Christine L. Gray, Kathryn Whetten, Lynne C. Messer, Rachel A. Whetten, Jan Ostermann, Karen O'Donnell, Nathan M. Thielman, Brian W. Pence

Community Health Faculty Publications and Presentations

Orphans and separated children (OSC) are a vulnerable population whose numbers are increasing, particularly in sub-Saharan Africa and Asia. Over 153 million children worldwide have lost one or both parents, including 17 million orphaned by AIDS, and millions more have been separated from their parents. As younger orphans enter adolescence, their sexual health and HIV-related risk behaviors become key considerations for their overall health. Importantly, their high prevalence of exposure to potentially traumatic events (PTEs) may put OSC at additional risk for adverse sexual health outcomes. The Positive Outcomes for Orphans study followed OSC randomly sampled from institution-based care and …

Gender Difference In Working Parents' Perceptions Of Work/Family Conflict And The Role Of Occupational Prestige, Heather Kirsten Mccabe

Dissertations and Theses

As many Americans move away from the traditional homemaker-breadwinner family model, research on gender and work/family conflict has become increasingly important and the question of gender difference in experiences of work/family conflict continues to be relevant. While there is research that shows women tend to experience significantly greater work/family conflict than men, there are also studies that have shown little or no gender difference, and some that offer evidence that men are reporting more work/family conflict. This study contributes to the debate by examining gender and occupational prestige in regard to working parents' perceptions of work-to-family and family-to-work spillover, with …

Building Resources At Home And At Work: Day-Level Relationships Between Job Crafting, Recovery Experiences, And Work Engagement, Allison Marie Ellis

Dissertations and Theses

Work engagement is an increasingly popular construct in organizational and occupational health psychology. However, despite substantial advances in our understanding of work engagement at the between-person level, scholars have argued for increased investigation into what drives engagement on a daily level for individual employees. In the current study, a within-person, day-level design was employed to examine the relationships between nonwork mastery experiences, job crafting behaviors, and daily work engagement. Drawing on Conservation of Resources (Hobfoll, 1989) theory, nonwork mastery experiences and job crafting were operationalized as employee-driven, resource-building strategies that assist employees in generating important psychological and job resources that …

Measuring The Support Networks Of Transition-Age Foster Youth: Preliminary Validation Of A Social Network Assessment For Research And Practice, Jennifer E. Blakeslee

School of Social Work Faculty Publications and Presentations

Multi-dimensional social support is an important factor in any positive transition into young adulthood, and youth who are exiting foster care ideally receive comprehensive social support from a range of informal and formal sources. Yet the social networks of transition-age foster youth are likely influenced over time by child welfare involvement, which can weaken or disrupt natural support relationships, while introducing service-oriented relationships that are not intended to last into adulthood. To better understand the social support context of youth aging out of care, we can apply social network theory and methods to systematically identify their networks of supportive relationships …

Conceptualizing Risk And Effectiveness: A Qualitative Study Of Women’S And Providers’ Perceptions Of Nonsurgical Female Permanent Contraception, Elizabeth K. Harrington, Diane Gordon, Isabel Osgood-Roach, Jeffrey T. Jensen, Jennifer Aengst

Anthropology Faculty Publications and Presentations

Objective: Novel approaches to nonsurgical permanent contraception (NSPC) for women that are low cost and require no incision or hysteroscope/surgical equipment could improve access to, and the acceptability of permanent contraception (PC). To better understand opportunities and limitations for NSPC approaches, we examined women's and OB/GYN providers' perceptions of NSPC in Portland, OR.

Study Design: Semi-structured, qualitative interviews were conducted with 40 women recruited from outpatient clinics with purposive sampling, and a focus group was conducted with 9 OB/GYNs in academic and community practice. Transcripts were coded and inductively analyzed with a grounded theory approach.

Results: The majority of women …

Association Of Childhood Physical And Sexual Abuse With Intimate Partner Violence, Poor General Health And Depressive Symptoms Among Pregnant Women, Yasmin V. Barrios, Bizu Gelaye, Qiuyue Zhong, Christina Nicolaidis, Marta B. Rondon, Pedro J. Garcia, Pedro A. Mascaro Sanchez, Sixto E. Sanchez, Michelle A. Williams

School of Social Work Faculty Publications and Presentations

Objective

We examined associations of childhood physical and sexual abuse with risk of intimate partner violence (IPV). We also evaluated the extent to which childhood abuse was associated with self-reported general health status and symptoms of antepartum depression in a cohort of pregnant Peruvian women.

Methods

In-person interviews were conducted to collect information regarding history of childhood abuse and IPV from 1,521 women during early pregnancy. Antepartum depressive symptomatology was evaluated using the Patient Health Questionnaire-9. Multivariable logistic regression procedures were used to estimate adjusted odds ratios (aOR) and 95% confidence intervals (95%CI).

Results

Any childhood abuse was associated with …

Illuminating The Experiences Of Single Fathers, Heidi Rosa Esbensen

Dissertations and Theses

The purpose of this thesis is to explore the experiences of single fathers and their roles as primary caregiver to their children as men in society adopting traditionally feminine roles. There was one primary research question explored: How do single father's experience parenthood? This is explored through four sub questions and discussions about daily life and childrearing alone; childcare and work and family conflicts; use of services and support networks; and of particular interest, gender and the influence of masculinity. Through an analysis of interviews with 14 fathers of varying class status, age, education, and time spent as a single …

Work-Family Conflict, Family-Supportive Supervisor Behaviors (Fssb), And Sleep Outcomes, Tori Laurelle Crain, Leslie B. Hammer, Todd Bodner, Ellen Ernst Kossek, Phyllis Moen, Richard Lilienthal, Orfeu Buxton

Psychology Faculty Publications and Presentations

Although critical to health and well-being, relatively little research has been conducted in the organizational literature on linkages between the work-family interface and sleep. Drawing on Conservation of Resources theory, we use a sample of 623 information technology workers to examine the relationships between work-family conflict, family-supportive supervisor behaviors (FSSB), and sleep quality and quantity. Validated wrist actigraphy methods were used to collect objective sleep quality and quantity data over a one week period of time, and survey methods were used to collect information on self-reported work-family conflict, FSSB, and sleep quality and quantity. Results demonstrated that the combination of …

Exploring The Effects Of Multi-Level Protective And Risk Factors On Child And Parenting Outcomes In Families Participating In Healthy Start/Healthy Families Oregon (Hs/Hfo), Peggy Nygren

Dissertations and Theses

While many studies focus on the links between multiple risk factors and negative outcomes such as child maltreatment, less is known about the influence of protective factors in the face of risks. The theoretical base of this study was a social ecological model of interactive influences including individual parent, family, and neighborhood level factors to predict outcomes. Protective Factor Index (PFI) and Risk Factor Index (RFI) predictors were developed to explore potential multi-level protective factor buffering effects on key child development and parenting outcomes. Participants were first time mothers enrolled in a randomized controlled study of the Healthy Start/ Healthy …

A New Low In Getting High: Illegal Drug Use And Crime, Erica Jean Ferrelli

Dissertations and Theses

The current research analyzed the relationship between methamphetamine use, cocaine use and marijuana use within the last 12 months and crime committed within the last 12 months. Crime is defined as drug sales, property and violent crime. The research design is a quantitative approach which uses secondary data analysis of the National Longitudinal Survey of Adolescent Health (Add Health) to provide evidence toward the research question; does illegal drug use increase the risk of committing a crime?The public access, 2008 Wave III data results of this nationally representative sample of adolescents in grades 7 through 12 in the US in …

The Effects Of Race, Socioeconomic Status, And Religion On Formal End-Of-Life Planning, Tina Dawn Lillian Burdsall

Dissertations and Theses

Individuals who are facing death today are doing so in an environment that is significantly different than it was in the past. Medical technology is increasingly able to keep people alive even with multiple complex chronic conditions. While these advances in medicine are beneficial to many, it can also unnecessarily prolong inevitable deaths. Concerns over the ability to have a death that is in alignment with personal values has increased the interest in the use of formal end-of-life planning including writing an advance instructional directive and assigning a durable power of attorney for health care. Although research has indicated that …

Cultural Behavior In Post-Urbanized Brazil: The Cordial Man And Intrafamilial Conflict, Thais La Rosa

Dissertations and Theses

Cultures, subcultures, and individuals occupy different positions in the low-context/individualistic and the high-context/collectivistic spectrum, and they shift due to factors such as urbanization, economic development and cultural globalization. In this study, I examine Sérgio Buarque de Holanda's theory of the cordial man and how it illustrates qualities of the high-context Brazilian culture. Within the framework of grounded theory, these qualities are evaluated from the perspective of intergenerational dyads--fathers and sons--that have been exposed to an urbanized and globalized environment in order to determine whether and how a shift from high-context to low-context is occurring. The participants were interviewed to explore …

The Crossover Effects Of Supervisor Work-Family Positive Spillover On Employee Sleep Deficiency: Moderating Effects Of Family Supportive Supervisor Behaviors (Fssb), Tori Laurelle Crain

Dissertations and Theses

The majority of literature on the work-family interface has focused on, and provided evidence of, the conflict associated with engagement in both work and family roles (Eby, Casper, Lockwood, Bordeaux, & Brinley, 2005). Research examining the positive aspects of work and family participation remains limited. The current study investigated how work-family positive spillover is transferred between members of the supervisor-employee dyad and subsequently how this affects employee sleep outcomes. It was hypothesized that work-to-family affective positive spillover experienced by supervisors would crossover to employees and increase their experiences of work-to-family affective positive spillover. In turn, this would allow for better …

Understanding The Experience Of Air Force Single Parents: A Phenomenological Study, Samantha Everhart Blanchard

Dissertations and Theses

Today, raising children under the best of circumstances represents a daunting endeavor as any parent and a growing body of research confirm. When a single parent is on active duty in one of the U.S. armed forces, there are additional challenges involved that may not exist among civilian counterparts. The phenomenon of single parents on active duty with its unique difficulties associated both with single parenting and with military service was the basis of this study. The purpose of the research was twofold: to describe the experiences of Air Force single parents as related to social support and work-life theory …